Let's return to December, 1979. After begging and pleading, your parents gave in and bought you that shiny new Atari Video Computer System (later renamed the Atari 2600). While snow flurried outside, you stayed inside, saving the Earth from those awful Space Invaders.

An eye on the past

The Historical Software Collection aims to preserve notable software from PCs past, making it accessible to modern audiences through the Javascript Multi-Emulator Super System (JSMESS). With JSMESS, these old programs can be run right in your browser.

While the Historical Software Collection contained a few games (including the disastrous E.T.), the Internet Archive Console Living Room greatly expands the titles on offer.

Yar's Revenge—still fun, 30 years later.

"As nostalgia, a teaching tool, or just plain fun, you'll find hundreds of the games that started a billion-dollar industry," writes the Internet Archive.

Currently the Internet Archive hosts games from five early consoles: the Atari 2600 and 7800, the ColecoVision, the Magnavox Odyssey, and the short-lived Astrocade. While other (shadier) sites offered standalone ROMs of these games or emulated them in the browser, this is the first time these titles have been legally obtainable in this manner.

The games currently run sans-audio, but the Internet Archive promises to remedy that situation soon. "Like the Historical Software collection, the Console Living Room is in beta—the ability to interact with software in near-instantaneous real-time comes with the occasional bumps and bruises," wrote archivist Jason Scott.

He also promises, "In coming months, the playable software collection will expand greatly."

Me? I've got my hopes pinned on a Vectrex emulator.

This story, "The Internet Archive rekindles early video game consoles with emulation" was originally published by
TechHive.

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